‘It wasn’t the kind of thing you talk about.’

‘But you knew … you had an inkling … he’d abused Ruth before? While she was still his own daughter?’

She shook her head vehemently. ‘No, Veum. I had no idea. It was only when she … If I’d known I would’ve left him long before. When I did find out I left him on the spot.’

‘But you didn’t go to the police?’

Her eyes averted his gaze. ‘No, it was too embarrassing. I didn’t want to talk about it. With anyone. I just wanted to draw a big, fat line under it all and forget.’

‘It would’ve been better for Ruth if you’d done the opposite,’ I said quietly. ‘It would’ve drawn a line under it for all time. For her, I mean.’

‘And have the wound reopened in a court of law? With merciless lawyers needling her? I wouldn’t wish that on my daughter. And she was mine now. Only mine.’

I pondered. ‘What did you think when you … when you began to see these death notices?’

‘Think? What would I think?’

‘You knew who else was there that night. Hjellestad, Kløve, Jakob, Johnny and Jan Petter Olsen?’

She nodded.382

‘But as you decided not to go to the police … was it never in your mind – taking revenge into your own hands?’

She nodded. ‘Yes, at first I often used to think that they should have a taste of…’

‘And later?’

‘Later that need faded too.’

‘And you never imagined that someone else might be harbouring the same desires?’

‘Ruth? You don’t mean Harry and Arild and all of them was … her … do you?’ She eyed me in alarm. ‘I can understand that when she was doped up she might’ve wanted to get even with Johnny. After all, he was her father for many years. But the others? Pointless.’

‘To a disturbed mind? To someone who’s fled the world of reality?’

She gesticulated impotently. ‘I just can’t believe that. She was always such a quiet child.’

‘For good reason, it seems.’

She nodded sombrely. ‘She was carrying around this dreadful knowledge – this awful secret – for all those years. And I was living with both of them and had no idea.’ A stifled sob burst from her throat. ‘How could he! How could he!’

I watched her. I didn’t know her well enough, didn’t know how much strength she might be hiding, what intense emotions she might reveal if you could peel back her skin and look inside. ‘If it was you who did this, Anita, you have no choice. Go to the police and tell them everything. If not, Ruth might suffer for what you failed to do, a second time.’

She stood up with such force that she sent the chair beneath her flying. ‘But I didn’t, Veum. I didn’t do it.’

I stood up too. Then I nodded. ‘Right, I believe you. But I don’t think Ruth did it, either.’383